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1111- 



85th Congress, [ HOUSE OF REPRESl 
, 1st Session. \ 



NQUIRY INTO CHARGES ' MADE BY HOi 

HEFLIN. 
D 619 

.3 

1917o 
Copy 1 



October 6, 1917. — Ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Barnhart, from tlie^ special committee on investigation of 
charges made by Hon. J. Thomas Heflin, submitted the following 

KEPORT. 

Your committee, appointed to inquire into the allegations and 
charges made by J. Thomas Heflin, Member of Congress from the 
fifth clistrict of Alabama, on the floor of the House on September 21, 
1917, and also to incjuire into the allegations or charges made in an 
alleged interview or statement alleged to have been furnished by the 
said J. Thomas Heflin and printed in the Washington Post of Septem- 
ber 22, 1917, respectfully ask leave to report as follows: 

The investigation made by the committee has necessarily been 
hurried, due to the fact that the resolution authorizing the appoint- 
ment of your committee to make the investigation was introduced 
early in the afternoon of Thursday, October 4, 1917. Afterwards, 
on the same afternoon, a resolution was passed by the House fixing 
the hour of adjournment at 3 o'clock on the following Saturday. 

The resolution authorizing the appointment of the committee and 
vesting them with authority is as follows: 

Be it resolved, That the Speaker of the House of Representatives is hereby authorized 
and empowered to appoint a select committee of five Members of the House who shall 
make inquiry into the allegations and charges made by J. Thomas Heflin, a Member 
of Congress from the fifth district of Alabarna, on the floor of the House on September 
L'l, 1917, which is in part as follows: 

"I do not know what Members of Congress, if any, have been influenced by this 
mysterious German organization. If I were permitted to express my opinion, I could 
name 13 or 14 men in the two bodies who, in my judgment, have acted in a suspicious 
manner by the introduction of resolutions or bills or by speeches in the Congress or 
I lut of it that lead to the conviction that they are not loyal to this Government in the 
hour of its peril. They ought to be investigated, and if found guilty, they ought to 
1)6 expelled from the House and the Senate of the United States." 

Also into the allegations and charges made in an inter\iew or statement alleged to 
have been furnished by the said J. Thomas Heflin and printed in the Washington 
Tost of September 21, 1917, as follows: 

■'I have heard a story that there is a gambling room in Washington where pro- 
German and peace-at-any-price Members of Congress get their piy by being extiaor- 
<linarily lucky at cards, i demand that this matter be investigated and that the 



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MADE BY HOIST. J. THOMAS HEFLIN. 

ja Congress in disgrace. I believe that some of this 

»ers of the Congress. I know I could' name 13 or 14 

•ate who have acted in a very suspicious manner." 

to the House before the adjournment of this session' 

iquiry and its recommendation as to the action which 

3 touching any person or persons involved in or affected 

its and charges. 

instruction, on the afternoon of October 4 the 

preliminary meeting to determine the scope of th'i 

nee ting was continued to the morning of October 5. 

ehberation your committee determined that the main 

mitted for its investigation was whether the charges 

. Heflin in his speech or alleged interview against Mem- 

,'ress involved the imputation of corrupt motives or the 

them of any portion of the alleged German corruption 

J and. J^or this reason your committee invited Mr. Heflin to appear 

^nd he was closely questioned as to the meaning he conveyed or 

/ intended to convey by these charges. In the first place, he was 

questioned as to the accuracy of his reported interview in which it 

was specifically charged that' Members of Congress had participated 

in gambhng as a result of which they received money from the 

German Government, or acted in a suspicious manner in that 

connection. 

Mr. Heflin emphatically denied that he had made such a statement 
and asserted that he had never, at any time or place, publicly or 
privately, made any charge that any Member of Congress had been 
influenced in any vote or action by the receipt directly or indirectly 
of any part of this or any other fund. He stated that he did not 
charge this, and did not intend to charge this, either in his speech 
on the floor of the House of September 21 or in any statement which 
he made to newspaper men which was alleged to have been reported 
in the Washington Post. With respect to the newspaper interview, 
however, Mr. Stuart Godwin, Washington representative of the 
International News Service, and Mr. Andrew Eldred, Washington 
representative of the United Press, appeared, at their own suggestion 
and declared to your committee that Mr. Heflin had been correctly 
quoted, as they both heard his statement and reported it for publica- 
tion . 

After being questioned as to whether he had any proof of corrup- 
tion, by money, of Members of Congress, Mr. Heflin most emphatically 
stated that he did not have any proofs of the receipt of money by 
Members of Congress and that he was unable to furnish or procure 
any such proofs. 

On September 28, 1917, Frank L. Polk, Acting Secretary of State, 
wrote to Hon. Edward W. Pou, a member of the House from North 
Carolina, as follows: 

My Dear Mr. Pou: In response to your inquiry over the telephone to-day, 
addressed to the department, I beg to inform you that the State Department has no 
evidence that could in any way connect a Member of Congress with the payment of 
money by the German embassy in its propaganda activities. 

I take the liberty of <) noting a statement issued by the Secretary of State on Septem- 
ber 22, which indicates his opinion on this subject: 

"If there is any misunderstanding, I wish to say very emphatically I do not see how 
the Bernstorff message in any way reflects upon Congress or any Member. Apparently 
it was the purpose to employ agencies to influence them of which they would have no 

0. of D. 
OCT 15 1917 



INQUIKY INTO CHAKGES MADE B 

knowledge and in case they were influenced \ 
know what the organization was. This expose it 
propaganda and there is no intention of casting i: 
Believe me, my dear Mr. Pou. 
Yours, very truly. 



On the above statements of Mr. Heflin, taken 
tile letter from the Secretary of State's office, you 
the opinion that there is no justification for and n*. 
which to base a further investigation of the question 
receipt of money by Members of Congress. 

This question being disposed of, nothing remains fo 
mittee to investigate but Mr. Hefhn's charges that he beh 
Members of Congress have acted in a suspicious man 
introduction of bills or resolutions, or in speeches made in Uongio. 
or out of it. 

It is apparent that such an investigation would necessarily consume 
a great deal of time and involve considerable expense, no provision 
for which has been made in the resolution under which your com- 
mittee is acting. Therefore, it is apparent that it is utterly impossible 
for your committee to make a full and fair investigation of this phase 
of the question within the time limit. 

While your committee makes no recommendation in the premises, 
we beg to state it as our opinion that in so far as Mr. Heflin' s charges 
impute or might fairly be construed as imputing dishonest or corrupt 
motives to any Member of Congress, notwithstanding the fact that 
he now denies any intention of conveying any such imputation, his 
conduct in that respect is subject to criticism. 

But inasmuch as the serious question of disloyalty to our country 
on the part of some Members of the House has been raised by Mr. 
Heflin, m the opinion of your committee, the direct and parliamentary 
course of action would be in the institution by Mm of proceedings for 
expulsion from Congress of those whose loyalty he challenges. 

Kespectfully submitted. 

Henry A. Barnhart. 
W. W. Venable. 
Arthur G. Dewalt. 
Nicholas Longworth. 
• i Joseph Walsh. 

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